Game could be better balanced ?

[Phoxtrot]

Here are my thoughts after a few games in hard mode (both IRL and on BGA)
I'm far from having fully tried all the possible strategies but...

1) Quests
It seems to me that playing heavily on quests is not a very good strategy.
It can occasionally make sense if you can do quests via exploration without loosing to much movement points or if you get quests with just the rewards you need but otherwise, meh...

Situation would be slightly better if we had the version of the ship upgrades that comes with the uprising extension (command of the seas is replaced by a compass upgrade)

Some other ways to improve it :

• Make quest hunters better (not require a spy ?, worth 1 more VP ?)
• Possibly add a few white border high cost cards with 2 compass or with 1 compass and some badge ?
• Slightly improve the city action that give 1 village action per compass to also give 1 gold or to give 1 more village action (I never see anyone taking it)
• increase the amount of VPs given for quests placed on the ship ( 00032+ --> 00232+ or something like that )
• Improve the mix of rewards on the quests (more combat, explorations) or make some where the compass part is better (like 2VP per compass or 3 coins per compass and a lesser fixed reward part)

2) Explorer
This seems to be a must have card.
Whether we go all in on exploration or all in on combats, they are very nice to have.
I think they should be slightly nerfed or at least nerfed compared to the regular city action : maybe one less coin per use and cost 1 more coin to play.

Or perhaps it is 11a that is too good and makes this more relevant ? Nerf 11a to +1 combat value and fight ?

[upurplay]

Hey there, I also play Maracaibo quite a bit and have been talking about strategy for a long time.

Quests are never the centerpiece of your strategy, but they're very good to fill the gaps. The Quest Hunter is actually atm one of my favourite cards to play in the first round, since it normally helps you with coins struggle early on.

The 11a city is completely broken and the reason why you see Explorer as OP (he's very strong anyway, but OP with 11a).

I stopped playing Hard mode and I'm playing Medium mode, which I find waaaaay more balanced. I suggest you to try it out and see if it works for you. It's by far my fav mode, and I'm not looking to go back to Hard anytime soon.

[Phoxtrot]

Hey there, I also play Maracaibo quite a bit and have been talking about strategy for a long time.

Quests are never the centerpiece of your strategy, but they're very good to fill the gaps. The Quest Hunter is actually atm one of my favourite cards to play in the first round, since it normally helps you with coins struggle early on.

The 11a city is completely broken and the reason why you see Explorer as OP (he's very strong anyway, but OP with 11a).

I stopped playing Hard mode and I'm playing Medium mode, which I find waaaaay more balanced. I suggest you to try it out and see if it works for you. It's by far my fav mode, and I'm not looking to go back to Hard anytime soon.

Thanks.
Well, you can suggest medium mode for next arena if you are among the gurus
(But it's already too late for new suggestions for season 19)

Maybe I'll nerf 11a as a house rule IRL.

[banjamine]

Quests weakness can be balanced by adding some free ship upgrades disc just like what the Maracaibo app did on iOS. But this is not shown on the latest rulebook, so I suppose it’s not official.

[MasterMystery]

2) Explorer
This seems to be a must have card.
Whether we go all in on exploration or all in on combats, they are very nice to have.
I think they should be slightly nerfed or at least nerfed compared to the regular city action : maybe one less coin per use and cost 1 more coin to play.

Or perhaps it is 11a that is too good and makes this more relevant ? Nerf 11a to +1 combat value and fight ?

It is also the position on 9 just before the 3 extra move, that way on hard mode you cannot jump over the person that stops at the explorer (earlier in turn order), denying them the delivery at Maracaibo.
On medium on the other hand you don't necessarily need the explorer not only 11a but also due to the open movement there. Exploring the first border though is still a must have.

On hard due to the extra cost of crossing past 9 is a big issue for
a) Starting player advantage or rather later player disadvantages, getting more early deliveries, as you cannot jump ahead after the first two on the east loop, which else you could if he has explorer etc.
b) you need something useful between the cities and maracaibo, most of all in loop 1; Explorer is just the best case, but a lack thereof in the starting hand really hurts in hard, otherwise you could jump

Medium for sure is more balanced.
Adjustment
1) May not always be possible to achievable, but an extra (or replacing the first round 1) quest to one of the spots 5-9 could give the useful action to the has no good assistant action there. If someone then does the quest and explorer he gets jumped and gets no further deliveries.
2) adjust 11 a to simple be an alternative to 11, you cannot do both (deviate from 10), you are still rewarded with +3 power for free, but not an extra action.